Well friends, today was snow day one thousand. Actually, I am not sure what number it was, but I am calling it June 11th. When I woke up from my morning nap, this ‘snow’ was gone. GONE. Like I said, I call it June 11th.
Ignoring the ‘snow’ day tragedy, my day was quite lovely! PJ and I hung out for a while, I consumed a ridiculous amount of queso, and I was able to put the final touches on some of the activities we’ve been doing in literacy centers. Earlier in the year, I shared some of the routines I’ve embedded into our classroom to learn about Greek and Latin Roots. So, now I wanted to highlight some of the hands-on learning we have been doing during our literacy center time.
During one of our literacy centers, students work on their interactive reading notebooks. Each time I’ll trade out skills, but as of late, students have been using markers (oooohhhhh) to practice root words. I have a master list that I keep at the station. Students pick 6-7 words to focus on during the station, and add the foldable to their notebooks.
We’ve also introduced a game of root word memory. Played like a traditional game of memory, students have to match a root word and examples of that root in action with the root’s meaning. The kids are so focused on making matches, that they completely forget it’s educational. It’ moments like these I feel like a parent sneaking vegetables into the mashed potatoes. 🙂
My kids’ FAVORITE center (even more than iPads) is STACKS. Below are picture from our prefix stacks that we did in January, and now we are playing root word stacks. How does it work? I write a root on the bottom of each cup and its meaning on the inside of the cup. I place the cups in a large Ziploc bag and students works in pairs. One partner grabs a cup. He/she defines the root and then, gives an example of a word that uses the prefix. The partner checks their work (mentally or using the answer I have written on the inside of the cup). If the partner answers correctly, they can add it to their cup pyramid. If incorrect, the cup goes back into the bag. Students work together to build the tallest possible pyramid in our 12 minute work period! Super fun, low maintenance, and great practice!
Happy day, friends!
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Krista Schmidt says
February 27, 2014 at 5:47 amThese look great! While everything else is showing up "on sale" in your store, it seems that this product is not?
Kate says
February 27, 2014 at 10:05 amFixed! I had set up the sale before I uploaded these products. It should be good to go now. Thanks for letting me know, Krista! 🙂
theroommom says
February 27, 2014 at 10:04 pmI teach vocab through roots and prefixes. We play a game where students have to connect words that share a word part (locomotive to remote to refinish to finalist…). It might be something you could add. I challenge the kids to see if they can create a longer chain than I can. I call them Word Trains (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Word-Trains-Prefix-Root-and-Suffix-Vocabulary-Game-freebie-679827). Love your cup pyramid! Caitlin (www.The-Room-Mom.com)
Jacqui says
July 2, 2014 at 9:11 amThese are awesome!